Category: Suffering

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Genesis 6:5-8 With: Licentiousness raging. Violence prevailing. Corruption deepening; But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Mattthew 24:37-39 People will be: self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good, traitorous, headstrong,…

Courage, The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery. Strength in the face of pain or grief. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ “Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty” Merriam-Webster “Any fool can be fearless. Courage, true courage, derives from that sense of who we are…” Barak Obama “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. ” Maya Angelou, as quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988) “Be strong and of a good courage.” Joshua 1:6 Courage deflects fear, gives consistency, withstands danger, endures pain. Nevertheless, Courage, God’s way… fills the gap (tiny passageway) where truth oversees and refuses the broad-way compromise. A teen courageously defies his parents; it took courage to smoke my first cigarette, then my first joint. It takes guts to steal a car, drink a shot of tequila, stay out past curfew, shoot something in my vein. Intestinal fortitude does jail time…

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. John McCrae https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-flanders-field/ In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem: We cherish too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies. She then conceived of an idea…

“Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay.” “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9 “When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? 2 Corinthians 1:17 What is lightness? (Hebrews. to stagger.) Websters defines “fickle” with “Wavering; inconstant; unstable; of a changeable mind; irresolute; not firm in opinion or purpose; capricious.” “Not fixed or firm; liable to change …” Matthew 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Paul had conceded that he would die in verse 9 above. Indeed, there had been a self-verdict which conformed him to Christ’s death already.…

I spoke to young folks recently, high-schoolers. They cherish “friends,” popularity, and “feel good” relationships. In Prov 8:31 Wisdom’s “delight” centers on the sons of men. Logic concludes: “young people and wisdom connect.” Both want relationships. Youth need “cool” to hold friends. So, young vie for acceptance. Cool people have life by the tail, they build social skills. They can handle most any situation, but the problem nags; Where get we the love? Enter Wisdom’s plan: Tear down — Walls erected social-skill-wise, They are phony. Masks must melt off. Catchy phrases explode in face. All veneer goes ca-phooey. How done? God commences work, He specializes here. First, He teaches suffering’s true meanings. Christ became poor, that we, through His poverty might become rich. He became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He purchased salvation with His blood. Our suffering enables understanding of His suffering. Ours promotes meaningful relationships and identification…

I watched two moms, one my own, the other my wife. A third would be my wife’s mom. All these have a common thing – close ties with their offspring. The children love mom not because she is perfect or even for her giving, but this – she is always in their corner, no matter what. Moms forgive their children — at least the ones I have known. They so never lose hope that their son or daughter will be great or at least be OK. They pray for the kids and worry. Most worry is sin, but not for moms; it becomes sanctified worry. The kids know about this worry and it guides, even restrains them away from certain paths of sure destruction. In order for a kid to go wild he has to find a way around his mom. He has to disregard her. No matter, mom will visit sons in county jail, or…

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Psalm 56:3 “But we often make choices that reveal what we really believe: that God cannot take care of what is unknown to us. We are not in control, and that breeds feelings of anxiety.” Dr.Carl Stevens “They believe in God, and they love Him with all their hearts, but they take on the identity of the tests they are going through rather than the purpose. They may take on the name of “pain” or “sickness” instead of “peace” or “long suffering.” And when they put a name to their pain, that is how the demons perceive the Christian. People take on all kinds of names in tests.” Dr.Carl Stevens “Deep anxiety comes from having put our trust in something that is ultimately untrustworthy. It comes from living a life for something which ultimately will not sustain life. —placing ultimate reliance on the conscious level,…

“We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor’s arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: “If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t know what is happening to us.” “That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked…

When a balloon bursts it lays flat but first it shoots as a rocket. Air escaping propels it horizontally till finally the balloon lays dead. Shape, buoyancy and bright color gone; a major tear shows apparent. Air will never re-inflate this bag of latex again. Is this a valid life-metaphor? A sharp pointed devise does the bursting. A harsh word? — Derogatory remark? — Evil report or unwanted news? Our hearts grimace, but not air-borne — rather toward people, circumstances, any avenue to blame or receive consolation. “Help, I’m going down quickly.” “People with broken hearts have one thing in common—having expectations of other people. Having expectations of how someone else is supposed to act, feel, think, speak and behave. If you never want to experience a broken heart, eliminate all expectations from your relationships.”” Norrington… Truth, but a stoic existence is healing? — where’s the hope? “Part of the pain of a…

You are the object of His concern. Cast all distracting, parting, disuniting, differing and soliciting care on Him. Cast out fear, with perfect love. Cast off the unfruitful works of darkness, put on the armor of light. Cast out the bondwoman. Cast down imaginations and high things for these exalt themselves against His person. Don’t cast away your confidence; …it has great recompense of reward. With patience the promise will come. A man must inventory his soul. He must shepherd his spirit. He must identify things such as emotions, fears, anxiety, and distractions, which carry him away captive. Then, bring it all back to Christ alone, “The Finisher of all works of peace — (liberty, unity, brotherly love and faith rest). But you say,”I can’t! What’s happening? I’ve lost my authority,” Cast those thoughts down! “It doesn’t seem to work.” — Cast that thought down! “I’m overwhelmed by…